Thousands back petition over introduction of bus lane fines across Gateshead Gateshead Council has approved a move to introduce £60 fines for driving in bus lanes across the borough
Thousands of cabbies have claimed the introduction of bus lanes across Gateshead will ‘strangle’ the private hire trade.
A new civil bus lane enforcement policy agreed by Gateshead Council’s cabinet on Tuesday could see £60 fines introduced for anyone driving in bus lanes from November 1 with the exception of buses and hackney carriages.
The idea has drawn much criticism – with around 5,000 private hire taxi drivers signing a petition against the move.
David Kennedy, manager of Gateshead Central Taxis, said: “We have made our objections clear to the council. We feel like they are creating a two tier system between hackneys and private hire drivers.
“They are going to put private drivers in the firing line with customers. What will happen when we have to start taking different routes to avoid bus lanes and prices rise.”
He added: “The council say they want to decrease congestion, more people use private hire nowadays so if more of our cars are stuck in traffic you’ll have less taxis available and even more people using their own.”
Buses, hackney carriages and cyclists will all be exempt from fines- while private hire drivers and regular motorists will be liable to pay.
Councillor Martin Gannon, leader of Gateshead Council, said that it would be too costly for private hire drivers to exempted from fines, as a separate council exemption order would have to be passed in addition to signage being erected.
Coun Gannon did add however that the trade could stump up the cash to pay for the order and signs – something which will be discussed during the consultation stage.
He added: “This is the right thing to do, I’ve heard of bus lanes with 400 yards of cars parked in them, that is not right. We need to free up those lanes, which are there for a purpose.
“The lane will be for buses and hackney carriages in accordance with national legislation, if we were to change that to allow private hire drivers we would have to make a separate orders and add additional signage which would cost.
“I know that there are around 1,100 drivers across the city, maybe they would like to pay for the costs of the order.”
The policy put before Gateshead Council stated: “Bus use per capita remains higher in North East England than in any other region of the country outside London.
“Although that figure has declined over the last decade, a significant factor in encouraging people to make sustainable travel choices is ensuring that services are able to run as efficiently as possible, especially on key routes.
“Effective enforcement will lead to service improvements and should in turn lead to increased bus use.”
Enforcement would initially be by means of the council’s existing approved mobile CCTV vehicle, but it is expected that a system of fixed CCTV cameras would be utilised once driver behaviours become clearer.
Once travel patterns become clearer, it is anticipated that a system of fixed cameras will be used and an appropriate procurement exercise take place.
Gateshead Council have estimated the approximate cost of each operational unit as in the region of £20,000. They added that it was likely a mixture of interchangeable real and “dummy” units will be used to cut on cost.
source:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/nor ... n-11380531
Login
Register
FAQ
MUGS 